The conference took place at the regional UNIOGBIS Office, inaugurated on the same day by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General –SRSG- for Guinea-Bissau, Miguel Trovoada, in the presence of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Guinea-Bissau, Luis Manuel Cabral, several ambassadors, including of Senegal, Angola, United States of America and representatives of the embassies of Portugal, Spain, and national and international institutions such as ECOWAS.

After two days of intense work, the group of 30 participants from several countries recommended among others: "the design of a sea-border security plan, which passes through the adoption of laws, the creation of institutions and supply of operational and logistical material, and plans as well as coordination between government and agencies.”

In relation to drug trafficking and transnational organized crime, it was recommended that, among other measures, be "reviewed the drug legislation to extend and make more efficient the investigative capacity of the Public Ministry (MP, Portuguese acronym) and fighting agencies, concerning the extracts requisition powers of banks, the flow of telephone communications and cargo manifests.”

As for the protection of natural resources, was highlighted the need for "reinforcement means for the enforcement of laws, the updating of the forestry Law, support to the Institute of Biodiversity and Protected Areas (IBAP, Portuguese acronym) as well as increased support to community radios and the establishment of a micro-credit program, the creation of cooperatives and vocational training to help the community in developing local tourism.”

Comprising more than 88 islands and islets, the archipelago of Bolama-Bijagos has been described in recent years as one of the regions of the country, for its insular nature and difficulties of the national authorities to ensure the control and security required, remains very vulnerable to drug trafficking activities.

Armando Nhaga, security guard at the Bubaque airport for many years, remembers the difficult times he went through on the landing strip late at night, "when the military came here to unload the cocaine." "Every time they came, they asked me to go home and I went fast. I only had my machete to defend myself and could not do anything. I had to go. People in the vicinity of the landing strip know all this activity the military carried out," said the guard who earns a 70,000 FCFA monthly salary.

Luis Manuel Cabral, Minister of Internal Affairs acknowledged this vulnerability and stated that government is fighting organized crime despite the lack of means. "Let's see, with our partners, whether they can help us in obtaining the means so that we can cope with this phenomenon", he underlined. 

The Minister praised the UNIOGBIS for organizing the conference and opening of the office in Bubaque. "We also plan to build from scratch a police model station and to install the Judicial Police on the island," he stressed. "If everything goes through, we think that this will help to improve greatly the situation in Bubaque," he added.

In the resolution 2267 the Security Council adopted in February 2016, the improvement of maritime security, the fight against illegal exploitation of natural resources, drug trafficking and transnational organized crime in UNIOGBIS are part of UNIOGBIS mandate.